


no, it’s not quintessence

by recommend_me_fics



Series: lance is a demigod [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demigods, Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson, Anxiety, Because I wanted to, Charmspeak (Percy Jackson), Demigod Lance (Voltron), Demigods, Descendant of Poseidon Lance (Voltron), Gen, Identity Reveal, Kinda OP, Son of Aphrodite Lance (Voltron), The Mist (Percy Jackson), actually y’know what i can tag this pre-klance so, its a quick scene tho and at the end, i’d love to tag this klance but there’s really no Klance in it yet but don’t worry it’s coming, kinda bad writing this was an impulse write lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:48:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26062162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/recommend_me_fics/pseuds/recommend_me_fics
Summary: Lance never meant to let the team know about his heritage, but a mission on a Mist-filled planet left him without a choice.
Relationships: Lance & Voltron Paladins, Pre-Keith/Lance (Voltron) - Relationship
Series: lance is a demigod [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1891963
Comments: 31
Kudos: 218





	no, it’s not quintessence

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the OP abilities i couldn’t decide between aphrodite or poseidon for his parent
> 
> TW: anxiety. there is a brief, four lines long anxiety scene at the end of the fic. it’s basically just lance worrying about whether or no the team will keep his secret. 
> 
> it starts at 
> 
> ‘/It’s gonna be okay./ Lance reminded himself. /They can keep a secret./‘
> 
> and ends at 
> 
> ‘Lance shook off his nerves, grabbing his soft pajama pants and shirt.’
> 
> please keep yourselves safe

Lance was... an unorthodox demigod to say the least. His great-great grandmother was a daughter of Poseidon, and his mother was Aphrodite. He had minimal hydrokinesis and mild water healing, but he did inherit Aphrodite’s charmspeak. His older sister, Piper, taught him how to use it right. Lance was able to talk most people into doing what he wanted, especially when he used the Mist. 

Lance missed Camp Half-Blood. The calendar Pidge had managed to create said that it was early June on Earth, a couple days into his usual camp stay. Lance’s nostalgia for camp kicked in a day ago and hadn’t let up. What also started was a weird dizziness that filled Lance’s ears with buzzing. His head constantly felt fuzzy and his ears almost always needed to pop. Lance hadn’t felt like this since he had been back at Camp, but that must’ve been a coincidence.

”Paladins, to your Lions! We have a request for help from the Zokelau planet!” Lance groaned and stuck his head under the shower head, trying to get as much of the soap out as possible. He furiously scrubbed out the bubbles and shut off the water, drying himself off.

”Lance, hurry up!” Allura scolded over the comms. Lance stumbled out of the shower room with his leg and hip armor haphazardly latched on.

”Not my fault we’re got a distress signal while I was in the shower.” He grumbled, hopping as he tried to attach his breastplate. He finished with his armor within the minute and made it to Blue less than thirty seconds later. 

”Good morning Blue.” He whispered softly, running his hands over Blue’s console reverently. ”You ready to kick some ass?” Blue responds with a deep rumble.

”Thats my girl.”

They landed on the ground of Zokelau quietly, avoiding any Galra ships. Immediately the planet felt... off. Not exactly a bad feeling, but it gave him goosebumps. It reminded him of something from Earth, but he couldn’t remember what...

”Everyone out, this a ground mission.” Shiro ordered. Lance slipped off his chair and said a short goodbye to Blue before heading out to the others.

”Lance, what took you so long?” Keith said angrily.

”I was in the shower, I had to get the shampoo out of my hair and dry myself off!” Lance turned a glare on him. The weird feeling the planet had was making him antsy, and he didn’t want to argue with Keith at the moment.

”Fine. Just... be faster next time.” Keith turned and faced Shiro again.

”Asshole.” Lance murmurs. The paladins moved through the thick brush the planet had, following Pidge’s direction. Pidge had the only map of Zokelau they owned. The last few days the castle’s systems had been glitching all over the place. Coran could be heard up in the tech room messing with the mechanics and swearing, and Pidge had been going crazy with all of her technology acting up. She had to rely on her smaller electronics, like her armor, bayard, trackers, and other small things. The castle’s navigation was fucked up and Allura hated how her wormholes were inconsistent.

Lance suspected that it was something in the solar system they were in messing up their tech. The bathrooms had been unable to produce any water with the temperature higher than downright freezing since they’d wormholed into the system. Allura’s wormholes only started to be unreliable and sending them all over a couple days ago.

Then it hit him.

Technology not working, Lance’s weird dizziness, they were all the same symptoms as-

Fuck.

How the hell did an alien planet have Mist?

”Pidge, do you see any incoming Galra?” Shiro asked into the comms.

”Not yet, but there’s something that seems to be messing with the signals.” Pidge tapped away at the hologram on her arm. ”The signal from the Castle is weak, and the Galra transmissions seem to be... fuzzy.”

”Fuzzy?”

”Yeah, like they’re not coming out clear and every one I hack into has disjointed messages. This could be what the Galra have trouble with on this planet.” Pidge said, worry in her voice. ”But it also could be whatever’s been wrong with the castle the past few days, I really don’t know.

Lance knew what was messing with the signals.

”Maybe it’s the solar flares from the planet’s sun?”

It wasn’t solar flares.

”Maybe. But the sun doesn’t seem to be giving off hot enough temperatures to affect the technology.” Hunk added.

”Well, we better be cautious then. Everyone be on high alert.” Shiro ordered. Lance gripped his gun tighter and looked around the Galra building again. 

Pidge has mentioned a couple days ago that the planet’s signals and connection also seemed to be glitchy, she’d hoped that it wasn’t a castle thing and just something part of the solar system.

Lance liked that some small thing connected to him was fucking with the Galra.

Pidge quickly hacked into the already unstable security and got them inside. The heavy door shut behind them, and Lance wondered briefly if the Galra knew about the Mist. 

The paladins turned a corner and Lance silently groaned. The small group of five Galra instantly dropped their water packs, drawing weapons instead.

”Hands up!” The squad of Galra instantly aimed their guns at the paladins. Hunk freezes, and Keith drew his sword.

”Not likely.” Keith growled.

”Keith.” Shiro warned.

One of the Galra took a step forward. ”Hands up! Drop your weapons!” The tall Galra with a hefty lightsaber-looking thing snarled and raised their arm into a striking position. Lance looked around the small room

_Do I do it and save us? Or do I do it and endanger my cousins?_

Drew would tell him to shut the fuck up and figure something else out. Percy would tell him to what felt right.

Another Galra cocked their gun. He knew what was right.

” _Listen._ ” Lance pours his charmspeak into his voice. The Galra instantly stop, eyes glazing over.

” _Drop your weapons._ ” The knives, guns, and swords clanked to the ground.

”Lance?” Shiro asked, unsure.

” _You will forget you saw us._ ” Lance used what Lou Ellen taught him about manipulating the Mist, twisted it around his words and coats it in persuasion.

” _You will go back to eating your lunch, and stay for an extra half hour._ ” The Galra turned dazedly and sat back down.

Everybody else was quiet. They stared at him.

”Lance, what was that?” Hunk said, voice strangled.

”I’ll explain when we get back to the castle.” Lance said.

”Let’s get going, we still don’t have a lot of time.” Shiro snapped back into leader-mode, taking stock of the situation and filing away whatever didn’t need to be addressed at the moment.

Lance breathed a tiny sigh of relief.

The mission went as planned. Zokelau was a tricky planet, the Mist was messing with all the technology and the natives seemed to have no idea how to work with it. The Galra didn’t either and that seemed to be the reason there weren’t many safeguards there. It must not have been worth the man power. 

Lance didn’t use his charmspeak again.

The paladins left the liberated planet and flew back to the castle. The lions settled into their hangars and the paladins went to the deck to find Allura and Coran.

Lance worried his lip, a nervous habit. They wouldn’t kick him out would they? He couldn’t live in space alone, and Earth was so far away-

”Lance! You didn’t tell me that you could use quintessence!” Allura rejoiced happily. Lance blinked.

”Quintessence?”

”Yes, quintessence! That’s what you manipulated to persuade the guards, right?” Allura said. ”Coran finally found out what was messing with our systems. It’s some odd mutation of quintessence.”

”It’s not called quintessence, it’s called the Mist.” Lance blurted.

Yeah, jump right into it Lance.

”The Mist.” Keith deadpanned.

”I didn’t name it.” Lance cut him a look. Keith scowled, and Lance was glad that Mullet was still fighting with him at least.

”So, you just happened to know how to use this unheard of form of quintessence?” Shiro crossed his arms.

”It’s, uh, not all using the Mist? I have this thing called charmspeak. I can convince people to do whatever I say.” Lance pulled at and twisted his fingers. ”It’s... a hereditary thing.”

”Hereditary?” Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose. ”You mean it’s like a genetic thing?”

”Kind of. It’s from my mom.” Lance played with the skin on his knuckles.

”Does Veronica have this too?” Shiro asked. Keith looked questioningly towards him, but Hunk and Pidge already knew who she was from Lance’s many family stories.

”Uh, no. It’s just me.” Lance said sheepishly. ”My dad... got drunk. Mama’s not my biological mom.”

”Oh.” Shiro looked uncomfortable now.

”I’m still confused. You have some genetic ability to make people do whatever you say?” Pidge questioned. 

”Y-yeah.”

”What the fuck?” 

Lance sighed. He had to tell them. ”You guys can’t spill this to anyone. Not the coalition, not the Blades, not your brother, Pidge, and not the Garrison.”

”Of course, buddy.” Hunk squeezed his shoulder. Lance took a deep breath.

”Greek gods and goddesses are, kind of, real? And I’m the son of one of them?”

Keith huffed and crossed his arms. ”Lance, tell the truth.” 

”I am.” Lance scowled. He lifted his hand and drew the water out of one of the water packs a few feet away. Hunk yelped, and Keith’s eyes bugged out.

”Holy shit.” Pidge breathed.

”You have wonderful control of your quintessence, Number Three!” Coran gasped, gazing at Lance proudly.

”It’s not quintessence.” Lance groaned.

”What did you call it earlier? The Mist?” Allura cocked her head.

”Yeah. To disguise any, y’know, magicky things going on, Hecate invented the Mist. It’s like a veil that changes anything that is connected to Greek mythology being real into whatever is expected to be seen. So, like, a sword would look like, a shotgun.” Lance explained.

”I have so many questions.” Pidge breathed.

”I’m not your guinea pig Pidge.” Lance raised an eyebrow judgingly.

”That’s what you think.” Pidge muttered softly. Lance inched a step away from her.

”So... Mama McClain? Isn’t your real mom?” Hunk asked.

”Mama is and always will be my mom.” Lance said fiercely. ”She’s just not my biological mother.” 

”Wait, if you’re the son of gods and goddesses, who’s your mother?” Keith interrupted.

”... Aphrodite.” Lance scuffed his sneaker.

”The love goddess?”

Lance sighed. ”Yes.”

”What does love have to do with your... charmspeak?” Shiro furrowed his brow. ”And wasn’t Poseidon the god of the sea?”

”Aphrodite has the ability to ‘charm’ anyone into doing what she wants. It’s not a common thing passed down to her demigod children, I’m the only one with a couple of my sisters who currently have it. I don’t have a very high talent for it, but one of Hecate’s kids, Lou Ellen, taught me how to use the Mist with it, how to twist it in my words so they never notice a thing.” Lance said.

”That is so fucking cool.” Hunk said breathlessly.

”The Mist sounds weird.” Keith grumbled. Lance narrowed his eyes at the Korean boy.

” _Pinch your nose._ ” Lance commanded. Keith’s eyes glazed over as a pale hand reached up and pinched his nose. He yelped, and his hazy expression washed away.

” _Holy shit._ ” Hunk is on total freak out mode. Lance isn’t sure if it’s positive or negative yet.

”You didn’t answer Shiro’s Poseidon question.” Pidge pointed out.

”Who’s Poseidon?” Allura interrupted, looking sheepish.

”Poseidon is the Greek god the sea, earthquakes, and horses.” Lance explained. ”And I only have hydro-kinesis because my dad’s grandma was a daughter of Poseidon.”

”Wait- your mom fucked her great-great-grand nephew?” Pidge looked vaguely sick.

”Technically, yeah, but gods don’t have actual DNA so nothing passes over? And everyone at camp doesn’t consider that when dating unless you have the same godly parent.”

”Camp?” Coran questioned.

”Uh...” Lance flushed. ”It’s- a safe space for demigods and legacies like me. I’m not even supposed to tell you guys about this, and when we get back to Earth my siblings and cousins will probably rip me a new one, so I won’t elaborate on that.” 

”That’s fair.” Pidge sighed.

”Can I shower now? I never finished my earlier one?” Lance awkwardly looked for a way out. Telling the team had been a big worry of his for months, and he really wanted to get away from their looks.

”Yes, you all should freshen up and meet back in, say, a varga and a half? We still have debriefing.” Allura snapped into leader-mode.

”Okay, thanks.” Lance zipped out of the deck and back to his room for some clean clothes, his pajamas must’ve been damp from steam after so long.

Lance felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. His team knew about him, and he wouldn’t have to hide it anymore. He blew out a couple shaky breaths and leaned against the drawers in his room.

 _It’s gonna be okay._ Lance reminded himself. _They can keep a secret._

 _But will they?_ An ugly voice wormed it’s way into his mind, just like it always did. _Pidge is always looking for new technology, it’s just a matter of time before she turns to you for a new experiment. Hunk will never see you the same way, he’ll always be scared of you. Shiro will think you’re untrustworthy. How could you not let the team know something so important? Keith will think you’re an idiot for telling them, he knows what’s coming._

 _They won’t._ Lance thought firmly. _They like me for me, it doesn’t matter that I have weird powers._

_Are you sure?_

_Yes._

Lance shook off his nerves, grabbing his soft pajama pants and shirt. He really wanted a goddamn shower.

Stalking out his room, he skidded to a halt when he saw Keith lingering outside of his room.

”Lance.” Keith’s expression was the same one he had when he was thinking hard about something.

”Yes?” 

”Thank you... for telling the team. And for helping us on Zokelau.” Keith looked up at him. ”It must’ve been hard.” Lance’s jaw dropped, Keith was being nice to him?

”I- it was, thank you.” 

”I just wanted to let you know, that, if you ever wanna talk- uh, I’m not the best at giving advice or talking about memories and shit, but I’m pretty good at listening.” Keith’s face was pink, and Lance could see the tiny glimmer of hope in it.

”Thank you, Keith. It means a lot.” Lance smiled at him. He took a step forward and pulled the red paladin into a hug.

Looking at Keith’s face after he let go, Lance could see that Keith’s face had evolved from a pale pink to a flushed red. ”It’s no problem.”

Lance smiled again before heading to the showers.

 _Stupid Mullet._ He sighed fondly.

**Author's Note:**

> not me naming a planet after an island and only changing one letter


End file.
